Table Tennis Victors Celebrate Club’s Anniversary
By: Peter Conroy, Jr Creative Editor
After intramural conclusion, students celebrate 50 years of fun
The Table Tennis Club is one of the largest clubs on campus with more than 100 members. The club was chartered by Dr. George Nagy in 1973, with Professor Emeritus acting as their current advisor.
The play continues all day on two tables in the game room of the Campus Center. All full-time and part-time students can join. The most active players receive paddles and balls, while the occasional players may borrow the equipment from the Student Activities Office. The quality of the paddles club members receive depends on the level of their play. The beginners receive slower ($10) paddles which are easy to control. Intermediate players get faster ($30) paddles, and the top players get the fastest paddles which are more difficult to control. In the world of sporting goods, the most expensive paddles can cost as much as $700 which are, unfortunately, out of reach for the club at the moment.
The club runs one tournament each semester and awards trophies to the top players. The club produced some outstanding athletes over the years: Deiji Singh took second place at the US Nationals in 1991 and Stefan Zampier achieved a rating of 2200 in recent years. Stefan is currently playing on a team in Italy. One of the former club presidents, Mike Krajeski, is running his own table tennis club in Albany under the name All + Table Tennis. Several players have won local and regional tournaments.
The club invites all students to take advantage of this excellent recreational opportunity between or after classes. All you need to do is call out the winner on one of the tables, and you can hold on to the table as long as you continue winning.
The table tennis intramurals have just ended, with twenty students and two faculty members joining the fun. The photos show the presentation of the awards to the winners Bobby Palermo (1st place), David Opoku (2nd place), and Tom Hine (3rd place). The award ceremony took place during a pizza party in early March.
Dr. Nagy is impressed by the rapid improvement some of the players have made in just one semester, owing their progress to the amount of time they devoted to practice and the skill of their opponents. “You improve when you face a strong challenge.” He commented.
If you would like to join, just start playing and contact Dr. Nagy, g.nagy@hvcc.edu, or the club officers Robert Palermo (President) or David Opoku (Vice President).
Congratulations to the club for 50 years of service to the student community!